The South Pole Expedition essays

The South Pole Expedition essays Almost one hundred years ago Ernest Shackelton was determined to do what no man had ever done before. He was in search of the South Pole, a place others warned him would be impossible to reach. He was a man who knew how dangerous an expedition to the south pole would be. With his strong determination and dedication to reach the South Pole, he put forth his best effort. In 1903, 28 year old Ernest Shackelton was a junior officer on an Antarctic expedition led by Royal Navy commander Robert Falcon Scott. That was Shackeltons first attempt to reach the South Pole under someone elses command. The first trip he took nearly killed Shackelton, but he did survive and eventually made it back home to England. Despite his ordeal, Shackelton was permanently hooked on the mysterious allure of the southern ice, and he immediately began the process of raising funds for his own Antarctic expedition, with the unabashed goal of being the first man to reach the South Pole. He had to go back, to prove to a skeptical world that he had what it takes. At the time, attempting the South Pole was like saying you wanted to go to the moon. No one had gotten closer than 532 miles, so no one knew what kind of terrain to expect. Shackelton meant to beat his old commander, and be the first to find out. He was looking for redemption, driven by the simple but overwhel ming desire to reestablish his manhood, to show that Scott should not have sent him home. And to achieve these goals Shackelton was prepared to put up with anything, even the prospect of death itself. Belying its official-sounding name, Shackeltons British Antarctic Expedition was a bare-bones affair, under the aegis of neither the government nor the Royal Navy. Shackelton raised his own funds. Shackelton consulted Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen, the sage of polar travel, taking Nansens advice about clothing, food, cooking equipm ...